Cigarette lighter



May 10, 1949. s. REIN ETAL CIGARETTE LIGHTER Filed May 25, V1946 ATTORNEY Patented May 10, 1949 CIGARETTE LIGHTER Samuel Rein, Hempstead, and Seymour rlesler, New York, N. Y.

Application May 23, 1946, Serial No. 671,783

(Cl. iii-'1.1)

2 Claims.

This invention relates to cigarette lighters, and aims to provide certain new and useful improvenients in connection with the flint supply and feeding means thereof, whereby a long rod or stick of flint may be usedI instead of the short lengths now in common use, that the lighter may be used for a far greater period of time before the necessity to insert a new flint arises.

rlhe frequency with which it is necessary to supply a new flint in. cigarette lighters is a drawback to their popularity, as the task of remov ing the old iiint and substituting a new one is very provoking to many smokers and is a nuisance to most. The instant invention not only very substantially lengthens the useful life of a lighter before a new flint is needed, but it also provides a very simple means and method of providing a new flint so that the operation can be performed with a minimum of trouble and time.

The above broad as well as additional and more specific objects. will become, apparent in the following description, wherein characters of reference refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended solely for the purpose of illustration of the invention, and that it is neither intended nor desired to limit the scope of the invention to any or all ofthe exact details of constructions shown excepting insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

Fig. l is a side elevational view ofl a cigarette lighter, with parts broken away and partly in section, illustrating the invention and its appli-- cation in a cigarette lighter.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the lighter.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is4 a cross-sectional view taken on line d-fi' of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the lighter, with parts broken away and partly in section, illustrating the invention in condition for removal or insertion. of the flint into the lighter.

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view' of the lighter.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral I0 indicates the housing of a cigarettelighter having a lateral partition wall il dividing the interior thereof into two compartments I2 and I3, the former being adapted to be sup-r plied with fuel to feed the wick I4 in the usual manner.

Thev flint carrier and feedconstitutes a separate member which is completely removable from and insertible into the compartment I3 through the bottom it of the lighter housing. This comprises a frame which may be constructed in any manner, as, for instance, the frame l which comprises a pair of opposed upwright walls; Il and I8 joined at the top and bottom by the wal-ls I9 and 20, respectively. In the form of lighter illustrated the compartment I3 is also substantially rectangular, and the frame iii. is adapted to be slid through the bottom opening into the compartment I3 to register therein as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 6, with the bottom 2li of the frame. I6 lying ush with the. bottomA I5 of the housing I0.

In the top member I9 of the frame Iii, a circular opening 2i is provided therethrough, and above it in the underside of the top wall 23 of the housing i0 a concentric but enlarged opening or recess 22 is cut. An opening 22, in align- .mentr with the openings 2I22, is provided in the bottom membery 2U of the frame, and on its outer4 surface the member 20 is gouged out or countersunk to accommodate the head 25 of a screw or worm 26. The latter is rotatably supported between the openings 2l and 2d and on its upper end has an enlargement or flange 21. registrable in the recess 22.

An internally threaded nut or carriage 28` is threadably mounted on the worm 26, and has aV neck 3l! extending horizontally therefrom and provided on its extremity with a disc 29. A pair of complementary, somewhat less than semicylindrical, upright guide jaws 32, having flat and joined rearward extensions 3l whose bases 34 and'upper extremities 35 are turned outward.

andv securedto the bottom and top frame members 20 and I9, respectively, provide a tubeelike receptacle for the slidable mounting therein of a. stick or rod of int 36. may in accordance with standard practice be mounted between the lower end of the int rod,

3S and the disc 29. Between the edges of the jaws 321 a vertical slot 33 is provided, through.

which the neck k of the carriage 28 projects,` with they disc registering in the tube-like space between the jaws.. The rod 36 of flint merely rests upon the disc 29. The. top 23 of the housing It has an opening 3l therethrough, under the flint igniter wheel 38,. through which the upper end of the flint rod 36 is adapted to project in the usual manner.

It is now apparent. that turning of the worm in one directionby the head 25,. whose periphery is preferably knurled for minimizing slipping when the' ngers are applied thereto, will causev the carriage 2B to rise on the worm and thus feed the upper end of the flint rod toward the A spring, not shown,

wheel 38. Thus, as the upper extremity of the flint becomes worn with use, the rod may be repeatedly fed upward. Turning of the worm 26 in the opposite direction will of course cause the carriage 28 to move downward, and this is done after the rod of int has been completely used up so that it is necessary to insert a fresh rod in the device.

One end of a leaf spring 39 is secured against the wall I8 of the frame I6, `and the other end 40 is bent at right angles thereto and bifurcated to provide legs 4I. The intermediate section 42 of the spring 39 is bent or flexed in such a way, substantially as shown, that the legs 4l are normally urged outward from the upright end of the spring. At a level substantially coplanar with the legs lll, recesses 43 are cut through the partition il and aligned openings 44 are cut through the frame wall Il. When the carriage is in its lowermost position, shown in Fig 5, the legs 4I i will have been withdrawn to the right by contact of the edge of the carriage with the flexed section 122 of the spring, as is obvious. As the carriage is advanced up the worm, the spring gradually flexes to push the legs 4I toward the i left through the openings 44 and finally, after the carriage has risen to where it is clear of the section 42 the legs 4l will have entered to a maximum depth into the recesses 43 thereby releasably locking the frame I6 in the housing l0. The Q length of a fresh rod of flint 36 will be selected such that it will be sufficiently shorter than the distance between the wheel 38 and the carriage 28 in its lowermost position to permit of raising the carriage suiiiciently to engage the legs 4I in the recesses 43 in fully extended condition by the time the upper end of the flint has reached the wheel 38.

It is readily apparent that the operation of supplying a fresh int rod is extremely simple. When the old flint is used up to the 'point where it cannot be fed further upward, the carriage 28 will of course lie in its uppermost position, not shown. The first operation is therefore to screw the carriage down to its lowermost position, where the legs 4l are withdrawn from the recesses 43. Then the entire frame I6 will slide down out of the compartment I3. The remainder of the old flint rod is then removed and the new rod is set into the tubular housing formed by the guide jaws 32-32 encasing the disc 29, and the frame I6 is reinserted into the housing I0. When so inserted, the flange 2l' of the worm will register n the recess 22 at the top of the housing, the open top end of the said tubular housing 32-32 will automatically align itself properly with the opening 3l through which the flint is adapted to be fed, and the recesses i3 will be in alignment with the openings 44 and the legs 4|. The screw is then turned to advance the carriage upward, and when the flint appears through the opening 3l the legs 4| will be engaged in the recesses 43, holding the frame I6 securely within the housing I0.

Obviously, modifications in form and structure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. In combination with a cigarette lighter housing having an opening through the top and having an igniter wheel mounted over said opening, said housing having a partition therein dividing the interior into two compartments, one of said compartments being positioned under said opening and having the lower end thereof open, a

frame insertible into said one 4compartment and having an upright screw rotatably mounted therein, a carriage threadably mounted on said screw, a tubular housing mounted adjacent and parallel with said screw and having a longitudinal slot through the wall thereof, said carriage having an extension extending through said slot into said tubular housing and being adapted to have a rod of flint mounted in said tubular hous-i ing and supported on said extension, said tubular; housing being so positioned in said frame that when said frame registers in said one compartment said tubular housing lies in alignment with said opening, means for releasably locking said frame in said compartment, one wall of said one compartment having recesses cut thereinto, a

spring having one end mounted on the opposite wall of said frame and having the lower end thereof bifurcated to provide legs and bent at substantially right angles to position said legs substantially at the same level as said recesses, the

intermediate portion of said spring being flexed to normally urge said legs longitudinally outward from said one end of the spring into said recesses,

said screw being positioned between said legs,

said carriage being positioned above said legs.

2. In combination with a cigarette lighter housing having an opening through the top and having an igniter wheel mounted over said opening, said housing having a partition therein dividing the interior into two compartments, one of said compartments being positioned under said opening and having the lower end thereof open, a frame insertible into said one compartment and having an upright screw rotatably mounted therein, a carriage threadably mounted on said screw, a tubular housing mounted adjacent and parallel with said screw and having a longitudinal slot through the wall thereof, said carriage having an extension extending through said slot into said tubular housing and being adapted to have a rod of flint mounted in said tubular housing and supported on said extension, said tubular housing being so positioned in said frame that when said frame registers in said one compartment said tubular housing lies in alignment with said opening, means for releasably locking said frame in said compartment, one wall of said compartment having a recess cut thereinto, a spring having one end mounted on the opposite wall of said frame and being deformed normally to urge the other end thereof into said recess, that portion of said spring intermediate said ends thereof extending past and adjacent said screw in the r path of said carriage whereby movement of said carriage in one direction releases said spring to permit said other end thereof to enter said recess as aforesaid and movement of said carriage in the opposite direction causes said carriage to withdraw said other end of said spring out of said recess.

' SAMUEL REIN.

SEYMOUR TESLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 100,850 Austria Mar. 15, 1925 316,869 Germany n n Dec. 6, 1919 542,102 Germany .1 7.-.. Jan. 20, 1932 

